Saturday, March 31, 2012

Apologies to everyone for my long silence - I recently moved house and have had huge issues with my internet provider that still haven't been properly sorted out! I really appreciate the concern shown for my absence, and thanks so much to those who checked in to make sure I was okay :) Hopefully, the wait has made the following announcement all the sweeter.

As with previous Challenges, Winners have been chosen in three categories:

People's Choice Awards - chosen by you in the voting (by clicking "Like" on the entries);

Places awarded by the judges, who've done an absolutely fantastic job of winnowing 110 entries down to the top 14 under the wonderful wizardry of Mark Koopmans; and

Random prizes (chosen by Mr. Random.org).

Before I reveal the winners, I'd love you all to offer up a huge thanks to four awesome people who helped me out with this Second Campaigner Challenge: Mark Koopmans, who shepherded the many awesome judges through three rounds of judging and shone a light into the administrative chaos - I couldn't have done this without him! And Ozlem Yikici, Kathleen Doyle, and K.T. Hanna who've done amazing jobs administering the prizes, communicating with the prize donors, and helping with the Campaigner Notice-Board.

To thank them for all of their help, I'd love them to accept this Campaign Appreciation Badge if they haven't already downloaded it from my last post :)

A signed copy of each of the current books in the MEANT TO BE series (MEANT TO BE and THE COUPLES) by Richard Alan (and a free download via Smashwords coupon of both books), donated by Richard Alan (US/Canada only for the books).

The prizes below have been awarded based on the standard of your entries, as judged by our awesome judges! Once the judges determined the top 14 Finalists, I decided which place each Finalist would be awarded. And boy was it hard, the entries were all SOOOO good!

A critique of the first thirty pages of a manuscript, donated by Hannah Hale. Hannah says, “I will identify if the winner's partial is ready for agents and editors, by focusing on the following areas (as well as pointing out other aspects not listed below): Does the opening scene hook the reader? Is the beginning conflict/tension clear? Is the characterization engaging? Does the story show, not tell? Does the story flow and is the writing tight? I'll also point out strengths of the sample as well as areas to improve, with examples”

An ebook/gift certificate from No Boundaries Press and a free promotions workshop, donated by Kharisma Rhayne, co-owner of No Boundaries Press.

Copies of FAERIE TALE FROM THE WHITE FOREST (Book One) and BRIGITTA OF THE WHITE FOREST THE RUINS OF NOE (Book Two, available in April 2012) [U.S. and Canada only, or ebook form if international], donated by Danika Dinsmore.

An ARC of ONE DAY I WILL WRITE ABOUT THIS PLACE by Binyavanga Wainaina (Memoir) [Print - US/Canada only] donated by Jenn Baker-Henry.

An ARC or paper copy of the ebook HER HEART’S DESIRE by Adriana Ryan, plus a 15 page critique, plus an opportunity to “take over” her blog for the day, donated by Adriana Ryan. Adriana says that the winner can have a guest post or interview, or could use a book trailer, vlog, character interview, etc. to provide information on them and their books/characters.

Jenn Baker-Henry - Copies of FAERIE TALE FROM THE WHITE FOREST (Books One) and BRIGITTA OF THE WHITE FOREST THE RUINS OF NOE (Book Two, available in April 2012) [U.S. and Canada only, or ebook form if international], donated by Danika Dinsmore.

Rekha - A new copy of THE PLOT by Martha Alderson (or a book to the value of $20), donated by Melissa Sugar.

J.E. Fritz - Book: WANTED: DEAD OR UNDEAD (Book One in The Zombie West Series). Plus Zombie Swag: Zombie-T-shirt, package of brains (not real of course), Zombie Necklace, Etc... [Package may not be shipped until April. US/Canada Only, though the ebook can be sent internationally], donated by Angela Scott.

Congratulations to all the winners, you've done such a great job in this Challenge!!! Remember, you've been chosen from 110 entries - how awesome is that!

I'll be getting in touch with both winners and prize donors over the next few days regarding the prizes - please be patient, as I have limited internet access. If you have any questions/concerns about your prize, please email me.

From Ryann Kerekes at Novel Addiction: Skip the slush! Let me refer you! Hosting a query contest with my agents. Winner gets a referral. Check it out over here!

From Meradeth at Write Stuff: To celebrate the release of my cover for my debut novel, Colors Like Memories, I'm holding a little contest. Enter to win a book of your choice!

From Sher A Hart at Sher A Hart: My Best Part: I added a contest, open through the end of March, to my campaign challenge entry. Guess my three word challenge theme or come closest to the ending of my book pitch, and you can win one of two prizes, a large envelope mailer of books from my collection (US only) or $10 USD in books (worldwide). You can come back and guess as many times as you want. I'll add more hints in the last week if nobody is close by then. Also, I have a books and chocolate contest posted on my, ahem, "Win chocolate and books" page. It ends on the 10th of March and the next goes from March 11th -10 April. This may be the last one with chocolate because when I buy it for the winner, I also buy some for me. Check it out here!

From Danika Dinsmore at The Accidental Novelist: The final round of the 50 First Lines challenge is on. Anyone can join in the fun. Deadline for this round is midnight PST on Monday, March 12 – Visit my blog for details!

Brooke R. Busse at Paper Mountain: This month, my blog is all about YOU! Have a book coming out, a blogfest, or just simply want to advertise yourself? Stop by to learn how.

If you have a blogfest, a contest, or a something-or-other you want me to let people know about, fill out this form and I'll run your announcement in the following Friday's post. Make sure you include all the details please. If your announcement is for a continuing event that you want included in other Notice-Boards, you'll need to fill out the form again each week.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Well, the votes and judging for the First Campaigner Challenge are now in, and I'm really excited to be able to announce all the winners in this post! With 210 awesome entries in the Challenge, and hundreds of people voting on those they liked the best (not to mention the fantastic work by the judges), it's been an awesome few weeks. I hope you've all had a great time too!

As with previous Challenges, Winners have been chosen in three categories:

People's Choice Awards - chosen by you in the voting (by clicking "Like" on the entries);

Places awarded by the judges, who've done an absolutely fantastic job of winnowing 210 entries down to the top 10 under the supreme organizational genius of Michael Offutt; and

Random prizes (chosen by Mr. Random.org).

Before I reveal the winners, I'd love you all to offer up a huge thanks to five awesome people who helped me out with this First Campaigner Challenge. Michael Offutt, who single-handedly organized the legion of judges through three rounds of judging and brought order into the depths of chaos - I couldn't have done this without him! And Ozlem Yikici, Steph Schmidt, and Kathleen Doyle, who've done an amazing job administering the prizes and communicating with the prize donors. I'd also like to thank K.T. Hanna, for all her awesome help with the Campaigner Notice-Board.

To thank them for all of their help, I'd love them to accept this Campaign Appreciation Badge :)

And now to the winners...*drumroll* (We have heaps of prizes, so if by chance you receive a US only prize but you live internationally, email me asap and we'll see what we can come up with).

A full manuscript critique, donated by Carl Duzett. Carl says: “I will provide a critical read of a full-length work. The winner must contact me via email with their work attached. My feedback will be honest and geared towards improvement, not towards validation. Allow a 2-3 week turnaround on the critique.”

A critique of the first five chapters/twenty pages of your manuscript (whichever is longer) or a complete short story. In addition I will offer a critique for the overall design of your book cover and advice on artistic direction, donated by Ozlem Yikici.

ARCs of INTERRUPTED by Rachel Coker (release March 2012), NUMBERS INFINITY by Rachel Ward (Release May 2012), and ONCE by Anna Carey (Release July 2012), donated by Alison Miller.

The prizes below have been awarded based on the standard of your entries, as judged by our awesome judges! Once the judges had determined the top 10 Finalists, I decided which place each Finalist would be awarded. And boy was it hard, the entries were all SOOOO good!

Here are the Finalists and their prizes:

First Place: Kevin Hiatt (and congratulations on winning both first places!)

A signed copy of each of the current books in the MEANT TO BE series (MEANT TO BE and THE COUPLES) by Richard Alan (and a free download via Smashwords coupon of both books), donated by Richard Alan (US/Canada only).

An ebook copy of OPRESSION (CHILDREN OF THE GODS #1) by Jessica Therrien, donated by Jessica Therrien.

Congratulations to all the winners, you've done such a great job in this Challenge!!! Remember, you've been chosen from 210 entries - how awesome is that! We'll be asking the donors to contact you directly regarding your prizes in most cases, but some donors have asked some winners to get in touch with them - if that is the case, we'll send you an email to let you know. If you have any questions/concerns about your prize, please email me.

Monday, March 5, 2012

I’ve been asked for a more difficult Challenge this time, while at the same time I know many of you would prefer not to be *too* challenged. So I’ve given you a range of different activities you could do below, all based on the same prompts, and it’s up to you whether you do one or some or all of them. I’ve determined the judging criteria in advance too, so it will enable the judge to assess all your entries equally no matter what you decide to do. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Prompt 1:

Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One person’s leg is cut. The other person has wet hair.

Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words)

Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts

Write a poem with a twist using the prompts as inspiration (in less than 200 words)

Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts

Write a poem/flash fiction piece (in less than 200 words) about the water pear *without* using the words “pear”, “spoon”, or “droplet”.

For added difficulty/challenge:

Complete at least three of the above activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be)

Write in a genre that is not your own

Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing. After the Challenge closes, you may wish to re-post your revised piece(s), and I’ll include a Linky List at the bottom of this post for those wishing more feedback on their revisions (note: revised entries will not be judged, so please label clearly your original post and your revisions. Please do not offer critique unless someone asks for it, as per the usual blogging conventions. If you do ask for critique, make sure you ask for it clearly so people know you want it, and please be prepared to receive feedback that may not be 100% glowing. If you are a critiquer, please be tactful and courteous, and remember to provide positives as well as negatives.)

Judging criteria

Judging will be based on:

How creatively the prompts are used (possible 5 points awarded)

How well the entries are written (possible 5 points awarded)

How engaging/entertaining/unique the entries are (possible 5 points awarded)

If the entrant completes more than one of the activities in their post, how well their pieces are tied together by a common theme and how strongly their theme shines through in their writing OR If the entrant only completes one of the activities in their post, how strongly their theme shines through in their writing (possible 5 points awarded)

Whether the judge wants to read more (possible 3 points awarded)

Creativeness/uniqueness of the entry’s title (possible 2 points awarded)

I hope you all enjoy!!!

Challenge details

Once you’ve posted your Challenge post on your blog, pop back here and link directly to it in the Linky List below. Please make sure you include the direct URL link to your post, not just the link to your blog! Otherwise we won't be able to find your entry.

I've also set up the Linky List so you can "Like" entries, so make sure you come back here and vote for the People's Choice Awards!!! Like voting will remain open for the week after the Challenge ends, so you can take your time reading some/all of the entries and voting. As the like voting is not a popularity contest, it is only intended that people taking part in the actual Challenge should vote. So please don't go out and get your family/friends/other bloggers to vote for you. If you only have time to read/vote for a few entries, consider randomly selecting entries or starting at the end rather than at the beginning, so that the people at the end have their entries read and voted on as well.

Entries in the First Campaigner Challenge will close on Friday, March 9th (at 11.59pm EDT), so make sure you get your post in the Linky List before then. As usual, while everyone is very welcome to take part in this Challenge, only Campaigners will be eligible for prizes.

Thank you so much to all the Campaigners who have volunteered to judge one or more of the Challenges. I'm amazed by your generosity—you all rock!!! In terms of judging, Mark Koopmans will be in touch about that very soon. I'd love you all to take a moment to pop over and follow Mark, to say thanks for all his hard work in co-ordinating the judging.

There will be a stack of prizes awarded this Challenge, both for the entries that are judged the best (by the judges and by yourselves) and through Random.org. We're talking ARCs, books, critiques, and other items galore! I'll be announcing the winners in the weeks after the Challenge finishes, so keep an eye out.

And as to that, thank you so much to everyone who donated the dozens of prizes we'll be awarding in the Challenges. I'm blown away by your generosity! And a huge thanks to Ozlem Yiciki and Kathleen Doyle for their awesome work in administering the prizes. And would everyone please take the time to follow Ozlem and follow Kathleen as a sign of your appreciation for their help - without them, I wouldn't have been able to offer prizes.

So, all that remains is to enjoy. Leave a comment to let me know you're doing the Challenge. Have fun writing your post, then pop round to the other entrants, check out their posts, follow and comment, and decide which entry or entries YOU like the best!

And don't forget to add your name and post link to the Linky Link below before 11.59 pm this Friday!

CHALLENGE ENTRIES LINKY LIST

IMPORTANT: DON'T PUT YOUR NAME IN THE LINKY LIST UNTIL YOU'VE WRITTEN YOUR POST - THEN LINK DIRECT TO THAT POST PLEASE (ie, insert the complete URL to your Challenge post, not your blog address/URL)

Friday, March 2, 2012

It’s been a busy week full of admin relating to the First Campaigner Challenge. The prize list is finalized, and we’re in the process of determining the ultimate winners from a list of awesome finalists. “Like” voting is now closed, and we’ve got our top 5 Peoples’ Choice Award winners too. So stay tuned next week for the prize winner’s post! And make sure you come by Rach Writes… on Monday for the Second Campaigner Challenge!!!

From Mark Koopmans at Aloha, and Hi! from Hi!: "I was born and reared in Dublin, Ireland and I'm mad excited for my Blog O'Hop with the theme of Got Irish - Get Pinched If You Don't Post! The linky list will officially open from March 12 to March 16, with the invitation to post the next day, which is, of course St. Patrick's Day :) Check out this post!

From Charmaine Clancy at Wagging Tales: To celebrate the release of MY ZOMBIE DOG, Charmaine is hosting a Kindle giveaway for the month of March. You could WIN a Kindle Fire (or Kindle Keyboard 3G). Details on her Blog!

From Danika Dinsmore at The Accidental Novelist: Round Two of the 50 First Lines Challenge has begun. You can still join in the fun and earn entries for prizes. This round's deadline is Monday, March 5.

From Elodie at Elodie’s Life as a Commuting Writer: Love of reading International GIVEWAY - You can win 2 books: one for you and one for a teenager or a child or a baby you want to share your love of books with. If you’re a teenager, that’s one for you and one for a friend or somebody younger than you. Check it out here!

From Amanda at Born Bookish: Amanda at Born Bookish is having a book giveaway. Come by and enter for your chance to win a copy of May B by Caroline Starr Rose, as well as some signed swag! Enter here!

If you have a blogfest, a contest, or a something-or-other you want me to let people know about, fill out this form and I'll run your announcement in the following Friday's post. Make sure you include all the details please. If your announcement is for a continuing event that you want included in other Notice-Boards, you'll need to fill out the form again each week.

Rachael Harrie

I write YA Horror, Dark Fantasy, and Psychological Thrillers, and spend my day imagining evil plot twists and psychotic characters. When I'm not thinking up ways to make you squirm, you'll find me blogging up a storm (with the occasional Twitter and Facebook foray as well), planning for my next Campaign, wondering whether to make Write Hope a permanent fundraiser for charity, counting down the days to the next WriteOnCon, and diving into another round of critiques with my CPs.

I blog on every second Monday. And other times as the whim takes me :)

My WIP - DARK

Sixteen-year-old Sydney Price is blinded by the radical group Dark, who demand that she betray her scientist brother if she wants to save his life.

Top Writing Blog Award Finalist

Writers' Platform-Building Campaign

Member of SCBWI

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